In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Baldwin Wallace Women’s Rugby Team hosted the “Powerful Women on the Pitch Rugby Tournament” on Sunday, March 27, going 3-0 against in-state competition.  

Vice President of the club Molly Cancian, who will not be playing this season due to an injury, believes women’s rugby deserves the attention the team tried to bring.  

In the past, as with several women’s sports, professional women rugby players needed other jobs to support themselves while playing rugby, said Cancian. Finally, a few teams are paying their women players a livable wage. 

“We really wanted to celebrate and highlight that women are powerful and that we are always uplifting each other and supporting each other because that’s also a huge part of rugby,” Cancian said. 

The BW Women’s team won all three matches played; the final scores were 15-10 against Youngstown State University, 17-5 against Oberlin College, and 17-7 against Ohio Wesleyan University.  

While the tournament was not part of their conference play and thus has no effect on their season standings, the results of the matches is an encouraging sign that the team will be competitive when the official 7-a-side season starts. 

Last spring, during the 2021 7s season, the BW Women’s Rugby Team won their conference and made it to nationals, winning the Challenge Bowl Bracket. 

“I think we can definitely make it to nationals again,” Cancain said. “Especially based on our performance last season, I think we’re definitely on the right track.”